


What Dwells In The Forest

by Just_A_Simple_Writer



Category: Les Misérables (2012), Les Misérables - All Media Types, Les Misérables - Victor Hugo
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Angst?, Butler!Courf, Courf has to put up with a lot, Gargoyle!Montparnasse, Jehan makes bad decisions, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Prince!Jehan
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-09
Updated: 2018-04-27
Packaged: 2019-04-20 15:18:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,903
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14263881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Just_A_Simple_Writer/pseuds/Just_A_Simple_Writer
Summary: There have always been things hiding in the woods, in dark shadows and fallen-down buildings. All mothers warn their children not to stray from the paths, and never, ever to stay out after dark.Jehan has never been good at following instructions.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I have no beta reader so all mistakes are my own  
> If you spot places where I've accidentally used the wrong pronouns for Jehan it's because I usually write them as nb. I'll link my tumblr in the notes at the end if you want to point it out (pretty please point it out)  
> Enjoy!

There have always been things hiding in the woods, in dark shadows and fallen-down buildings. All mothers warn their children not to stray from the paths, and never, ever to stay out after dark. The castle on the edge of the woods is the last structure still inhabited by humans, and even that has dark rumours encircling it. The royal family are werewolves, vampires, have made deals with the devil. People rarely visit, and most of the family only leave on official business, not to make idle chatter with the people living in the town below them.

Except the youngest son. There are more rumours floating around him than any one else in the castle, but he comes and goes and talks with people as if he was just another one of them. He visits the forest too, and yet always seems to come back unscathed. He is shrouded in mystery and speculation. Outside the castle, that is. Inside is a different matter.

~~~~~~~~~

“Courfeyrac!” the prince shouted up the stairs, struggling to take his coat off without knocking over the tower of books he held in his arms “Courfeyrac, your help would be appreciated!”

The butler of the family, and the young prince’s best friend, laughed as he descended the stairs. “Patience Jehan. I’m coming.” He reached the bottom of the stairs and took the stack of books out of his friend’s arms. Jehan finished shrugging off his coat and gratefully took his books back. “Thank you, Courf. I had the most fascinating discovery today. I’ll tell you all about it when I’ve put these books away.”

He began walking up the stairs, trying to see over the pile of books. Courfeyrac shook his head and laughed. “I have a job, you know.” It was an empty complaint; he was already following Jehan up the stairs.

Once in the room the prince started putting the books back on the enormous shelves that spanned his room. Courfeyrac kicked his shoes off and lay down on the bed. “So, what’s this discovery you mentioned?”

Jehan grinned “I found a really cool cave system. I couldn’t explore it today, because it was getting late, but I’m going to go back tomorrow.”

Courfeyrac sat up and frowned at his friend “Your mother has invited people over tomorrow.”

“Then I’ll go the next day.”

“Jehan, those kinds of places aren’t safe, you know that. You shouldn’t go by yourself. What if you got hurt? Something could find you.”

Jehan stood on his tiptoes to try and get a book onto a high shelf without using the ladder, and only succeeded in pulling several books down onto himself. Courfeyrac sighed and walked over to help him. Jehan smiled. “Thanks, Courf. And I know cave systems aren’t safe, but it’s big enough to walk around in easily, and the entrance is easy to access, and it’s warm, and …”

Courfeyrac cut him off “If it’s all that great, how can you be sure that something hasn’t already made it their home? And I know, I’ve heard every one of your excuses before, but I just don’t think it’s safe.”

Jehan, having returned all his books to their proper places, went and lay down on his bed. “Courf, when have any of my exploits ever been safe?”

Courfeyrac sighed and leaned against the bookcase. “This just seems stupider than most. You’re talking about going into a cave system that someone big and dangerous probably lives it.”

“For research.”

There were footsteps in the hall and both boys jumped. Courfeyrac scrambled under the bed and Jehan grabbed the nearest book. The door burst open and Jehan’s sister stormed in.

“Have you seen Monsieur de Courfeyrac?”

Jehan shook his head. “Courf? I haven’t seen him since this morning.”

The girl narrowed her eyes. “Okay _brother dearest_. You’re holding your book upside down.” She shrugged. “Just thought I’d mention it.”

Jehan paused. “I’m looking at it from a new perspective.”

By the look on her face, Emilia didn’t believe him in the slightest, but she just rolled her eyes at him. “Okay Jean. Just remember that just because he’s your best friend, doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have a job.”

Jehan nodded and gestured for her to leave. She did so, slamming the door on her way out. Jehan sighed and put the book down. Courfeyrac slid out from under the bed, giggling slightly. “I think you handled that very well, Jehan.”

Jehan rolled his eyes. “Thank you Courf.”

Courfeyrac grinned. “Always a pleasure, my friend. But your sister is right. I do have a job, past talking you out of doing stupid things. Please reconsider exploring the caves.”

He smiled and walked out after Emilia. Jehan frowned. He was just going to have to explore it without Courfeyrac’s support.


	2. Chapter 2

The next day was notably uneventful. Jehan spent the morning planning his expedition and the afternoon smiling and making small talk with people he didn’t know and pretending that his mind wasn’t elsewhere. He hardly saw Courfeyrac, who was engaged with doing his duties as the butler to the family. After the guests left he went straight to bed, in order to wake up before Courfeyrac, and sneak out without getting caught.

The morning dawned, bright and cloudless, and Jehan woke with the sun. The sounds of the castle slowly waking up drifted into his room as he dressed hurriedly and packed the things he needed; a few books, including a notebook, some medical supplies, a tinderbox and torches. Once that was done he made his way down to the kitchen to get some breakfast and a packed lunch for the expedition. The head cook was already there, kneading the dough to make that day’s bread. She greeted Jehan cheerfully as he snuck in and started raiding the pantry. He grinned sheepishly at her.

“Hey ‘Sette.”

“Hi, Jehan. What are you doing up so early? And in my pantry? Another expedition?”

Jehan nodded enthusiastically “I found a cave, and I’m going to go check it out. Courf says it’s not safe, but I think it’ll be fine, so don’t tell him I’ve gone until it’s too late for him to come fetch me, please?”

Cosette nodded “I won’t tell. If you look a bit to your right there are some fresh pastries. You don’t want to leave on an empty stomach.”

Jehan thanked her and took two of the fresh pastries, and then headed out of the castle, eating as he went. The pastries were still warm, and very good. The day looking to be a good one.

The forest was still cool as he started walking between the trees, looking out for the markers he had left behind him two days ago. They were bright and easy to spot, and just over three hours had passed when he found the entrance to the cave. It was concealed by vines and difficult to see if he had not already known of its existence. Jehan moved the vines and stepped across the threshold. It was much cooler inside, and he had to blink for a couple of seconds to let his eye adjust to the dimness. There was still light coming from somewhere, but he couldn’t quite tell where.

He began to walk.

The cave was spacious, and Jehan had to jump to touch the roof. The passage sloped down and got a little wider as he walked cautiously down. The walls of the cave were damp to the touch, and the ground was slightly slippery.

By the time Jehan had to stop and light a torch the roof was so high that it was out of sight, even when the flickering light cast by the flame lit up the passage. Jehan kept close to the right wall of the passage, running his hand along it to stop himself from getting lost in the dark.

The wall was rough and damp, but it was fairly even until he felt something under his fingers and stopped short. There was what felt like deep ruts in the stone. He brought the torch round to examine them, but they didn’t look like much. Just four deep, parallel scratches across the wall. Jehan frowned and waved the torch along the wall to see if there are any more.

There were, a few metres along, and then another few metres after that. Claw marks, from some huge animal. Jehan began to feel a little apprehensive about this expedition. Perhaps Courfeyrac was right, and this wasn’t such a good idea after all. But leaving felt too much like giving up, and so he drew a quick sketch of the marks and scribbled down a couple of notes, and then pressed on into the dark.

The marks were every few metres, and on further inspection, Jehan found similar ones in the ground, claw marks caused by something huge walking down the passage. Jehan shivered and quickened his pace slightly.

The passage was mostly level, and Jehan was so preoccupied with thinking about the marks that he didn’t even notice the sudden step and went tumbling down a little slope. It wasn’t steep, but it was long and there were a lot of rocks, which dug until his face and back when he fell on them. The torch went out, and he was falling in the dark, unable to see where the walls of the passage were.

The slope vanished abruptly, and for a terrifying few seconds, Jehan was falling through free space. That ended when he hit the ground, and pain shot up his left leg. He screamed involuntarily and lay on the floor until the pain subsided enough to allow him to sit up. As soon as he could he started feeling around for his pack, but it had fallen from his back while he was tumbling through the air and wasn’t within reach. Every time he moved his left leg the pain returned, along with nausea. He was stranded in a cave, quite possibly with a monster. Great.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a [tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/lilyvalle)


	3. Chapter 3

It was almost silent in the cave, apart from dripping water and Jehan’s own breathing. It was probably for the best, he decided. At least he could hear the monster coming if it came to that. He hoped desperately that it wouldn’t.

On a normal day, he would wait for Courfeyrac to realise that he was missing and come to rescue him, but he hadn’t told Courf where he was going today. No one knew where he was.

“God above, I’m going to die here.” He spoke out loud, not quite knowing why, but finding comfort in his own voice. He tried to stay calm and keep his breathing regular, but it was difficult with the lack of light and possibility of starving to death looming over him. Perhaps it would be better to be eaten by the monster after all.

He wondered whether to scream. On the one hand, it could attract help. But he was far below the ground, and even if he wasn’t, the forest didn’t have many friendly residents, and the cave likely had even less. But what harm could it do? At worst it would save him from a slow and painful death.

He deliberated for a while, alone in the dark, and decided that he would rather die at the hands of some horrendous creature than to succumb to thirst and have his body lost forever in this stony tomb. At least if he was eaten then he would live on in a strange sort of way, providing energy for some other being. It was a strange thought, but he found some comfort in it.

So, he screamed. And screamed and screamed, for hours, until his throat was hoarse, and he was forced to stop. But nothing came. The screams echoed off the walls, but there was still no other sound, except the constant drip, drip, drip. Evidently whatever lived here wasn’t home, or perhaps it had died a long time ago.

Jehan couldn’t tell the time, down in the belly of the earth, but he guessed that the sun was probably low. Courf would start to miss him soon, but there was nothing he could do.

“You were right,” said Jehan, speaking to an imaginary Courfeyrac, “I shouldn’t have come down here. It wasn’t safe. Next time I’ll listen to you. Not that there’s likely to be a next time.”

He lay back down, since sitting up only wasted energy, and laying down hurt less. He would give anything to be back home, surrounded by his books and his friends. A friendly face would be very much welcome right now. Even Emilia’s, as much as she irritated him sometimes.

He realised suddenly that he was rather hungry. He hadn’t noticed before, with the pain in his leg taking up most of his attention, but now that it had subsided to a dull ache he began to notice his stomach crying out for food. He tried to get up, to feel around in the dark for his bag, but his leg wouldn’t have it, and he collapsed back on the ground, in considerable pain.

He started to cry, out of frustration and anger, and a deep sense of hopelessness. He was utterly powerless. He couldn’t even stand or see. He knew that if he spent too long in the dark his mind would start playing tricks on him, and he would eventually go mad, provided he lived that long.

It was cold, too, and he wasn’t wearing enough clothes to properly shield him, so he was shivering. He wondered what would kill him first, the cold, thirst, madness. Maybe infection from the cuts and bruises he gained while tumbling down the slope. There were so many things. And no one would ever find his body. Courf would never know what happened.

With very little else left to do he curled up and tried to sleep. Perhaps his leg would hurt less in the morning, and he could try to walk, and to find his bag and get out.

The floor was hard, but he was tired and had had a long day, so he eventually drifted off to sleep. Maybe the morning would bring better things.


	4. Chapter 4

Jehan awoke sometime later, with no concept of how much time had passed. Was it the morning? He tried to sit up and look around. It was still dark, and freezing cold. What had woken him? Nothing seemed to have changed, although he couldn’t see, so couldn’t be sure. His ankle still hurt, although not enough to have woken him up. He listened out for any sound. There was still the familiar drip of water, steadily coming down from the roof, far above his head. Drip. Drip. Drip. Scritch. His head jerked in the direction of the unfamiliar sound. What was that? His heartbeat sped up, as much as he tried to keep breathing steadily. The sound came again, and again. It was a little louder each time he heard it, as if it was getting closer. Was he already going mad? He didn’t think so. The sound was real. There was something else down here with him. The fear returned, in full force, until he could hardly breathe from it. The sound got closer, and he began to be able to hear heavy footsteps as well, obviously from something much bigger than him. He had the same thought circling around his head. I’m going to die. I’m going to die. Over and over. His imagination began running away with him, picturing all the ways this … this _thing_ was going to kill him.

He would have cried, but he was too terrified to do anything but sit completely still, and wait to be found.

The footsteps stopped suddenly, and there was a low growl from his left. He tried to turn, and accidentally put weight on his ankle and gasped involuntarily. The cave went silent. It had heard him, and if it wasn’t sure if he was there earlier, well, it knew now. Jehan squinted in the direction which he thought it was standing it, and imagined that he saw two pinpricks of light. There was a faint whoosh, and they were gone. Jehan didn’t know where the creature was, or if it was going to attack him. He looked around frantically, his mind conjuring up slight noises and faint lights. There was another whoosh and a heavy thump, unmistakably real and very, _very_ nearby. Jehan was shaking now, and his breathing was erratic, and he was sure that the creature knew exactly where he was. How could it not? He took a deep, shaky breath, and spoke, not knowing if it could understand him.

“Please, if you’re going to kill me, do it quickly.”

There was a silence, and Jehan closed his eyes, although it made no difference in the darkness.

He felt his eyes sting, and couldn’t stop the tears from slipping down his cheeks until he could taste the salt on his tongue. He thought he heard a movement nearby, and started sobbing for real. He didn’t want to cry, and he always thought that he would die with some dignity, but actually faced with the possibility of being ripped apart he couldn’t do it, couldn’t sit quietly and die. The thought just made it worse, and he put his hands over his face and cried into them.

**Author's Note:**

> [Tumblr!](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/lilyvalle)


End file.
